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FOR PETE’S SAKE
The five-day, multi-venue Seeger Fest commemorating the full and inspiring lives of Pete Seeger, who died last year at age 94, and wife Toshi Seeger, who died earlier in 2013, culminates in “New Songs of Justice,” a free four-hour hootenanny featuring politically engaged rock, folk, and hip-hop artists. Singers and strummers predominate, not unexpectedly, and […]
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Kristeen Young
Predating Amanda Palmer, Kristeen Young’s now logged over a decade of theatrical dervish shows along with a robust, ripe-for-rediscovery catalog of albums full of weaponized piano riffs and lyrics that aren’t TMI so much as too much candor, in the best way. She’s perhaps best known for railing at the canonical rock gods both on […]
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FULL STEAM AHEAD
Hop aboard a time machine today and travel back to the era when people dressed like Edward Gorey characters and rode in paddleboats along the Mississippi. What? That never happened? Well then, you’ll need your imagination at Pier 40 for the final event of Gemini and Scorpio’s Steampunk Weekend, which involves an old-timey cruise aboard […]
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Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists
And you thought Amanda Palmer was ambitious. Guitarists versed in meditation and the Fripp’s Guitar Craft technique will pay $1000 for the privilege of training with and performing alongside the King Crimson leader during a few East Coast gigs. The fee includes room, board, transportation, and Alexander technique sessions. Fripp says the shows will reflect […]
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A Serious Conversation With Amanda Fucking Palmer
Defending the eclectic and in-your-face rocker Amanda Palmer in public these days is like lobbying City Hall to run a high-voltage wire through a public playground. The reaction to the controversy surrounding her can be so visceral that you miss the point of what she’s trying to do. God forbid you take a good idea […]
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New Year’s Eve Guide: Shows
The Bowery Ballroom Anyone who saw Tom Hardy’s performance as Forrest Bondurant in Lawless this year knows that hillbillies, moonshine, and layered granddad sweaters are pretty gangster. I predict that this combination is going to do wonders for country music enthusiasts hidden all over the city. I’m already seeing rocked-out button-down sweaters and Bud Light […]
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Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra
Amanda Palmer (also known as Amanda Fucking Palmer) made her career as the brash-voiced lead singer and pianist of the self-described “Brechtian punk cabaret” band the Dresden Dolls. With the release of Who Killed Amanda Palmer in 2008, she officially began her solo work with a backing band that augmented her music’s already punchy, piano-driven […]
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Dresden Dolls
They’re baaaaack. This gig marks both the “tenth bandiversary” and return (from the dead?!) of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione’s sexy, smart, and sometimes silly “Brechtian punk cabaret” after their two-year hiatus. With a cult fanbase and a tradition of delivering appropriately seasonal special events (the duo turned in a remarkable Carpenters’ impression at one […]
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Evelyn Evelyn
For most people, rainy day Sundays mean (maybe) finishing a crossword. Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer and Seattle musician Jason Webley, however, used one to create conjoined twin cabaret Evelyn Evelyn. Playing for five nights at Greenwich Village’s Lucille Lortel Theatre, the two create high camp macabre in their unique touring production that includes the ragtime […]
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MURDER HE WROTE
It’s probably no surprise that Amanda Palmer, frontwoman of the outlandish Brechtian punk cabaret duo the Dresden Dolls, would have a morbid fascination with death: For over a decade, she’s been taking photos of herself—often with very little clothing on—lying dead in every place imaginable (alleys, abandoned buildings, golf courses). To accompany last year’s release […]